


Hermione Granger and the Time Turner Shenanigans

by silveradept



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Gen, Groundhog Day Loop, Quick Body Swap, Time Travel, Time Turner (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 14:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16042586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: It's the first day of the Triwizard Tournament, and Hermione is pretty annoyed that nobody seems to have taken her advice and planning.It's the first day of the Triwizard Tournament, and Hermione finds herself in the middle of a strange conspiracy put on by Luna for unknown reasons.It's the first day of the Triwizard Tournament, and things seem to be going according to plan, except when they don't.It's the first day of the Triwizard Tournament. That much is certain.





	Hermione Granger and the Time Turner Shenanigans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RahDamon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RahDamon/gifts).



"I need that!" Luna said, snatching the Time Turner from Hermione's hands. "This time didn't turn out so well, but we'll figure it out eventually."

The dragon roared and inhaled.

"Absolutely not!" Hermione yelled at Luna.

"Hermione," Luna said, turning to face her and projecting, "I've already done this with you so many times. Stop fighting me."

"What do you mean, 'so many times'?" Hermione shouted.

"You'll understand soon enough. This time, though, I'm taking Neville with me."

Luna spun the Time Turner.

Hermione woke up in bed. It was the day of the Triwizard Tournament match, and her research and preparations weren't ready yet. She hadn't found the way Harry's name had gotten into the Goblet of Fire so that she could reverse the spell and get him away from the danger. Harry was, well, an average student, and the challenges of the Triwizard Tournament were going to be too much for him. He still couldn't pronounce his spells correctly half the time. He was going to get hurt, and with Death Eaters around, a hurt Harry could easily be a dead Harry.

Changing into something suitable for breakfast, she fed Crookshanks and went to the Great Hall.

"On time as always," said a lilting voice as she sat at the Gryffindor table. A blonde-haired Ravenclaw she'd seen in classes smiled at her. Hermione noticed the earrings first, and then the _Quibbler_ in her hands.

"Luna...Lovegood, yes?" Hermione offered carefully.

"Correct!" she said, smiling more brightly.

"...why are you sitting at the Gryffindor table?" Hermione asked, confused.

"I've always thought the House system is far too rigid," Luna said, shrugging. "The school founders clearly intended for the Houses to work together, yet we're always at each other's throats, figuratively speaking, any time we interact."

Hermione let that sink in for a bit, slightly shocked at the forwardness of her response.

"I'm also trying to catch up on my Herbology homework, and what better person to do it with than my lab partner?"

"Hullo, Hermione," Neville said shyly, arriving at the table. "How are you?"

"Well, thank you. Luna was just telling me that you're lab partners in Herbology?"

Neville blushed. "Yep," he said.

Hermione felt confused. Professor Sprout had assigned Neville Pansky Parkinson as a partner, in a "desperate attempt to not have to see her next year," according to what Neville has told her only a few days ago.

Which meant something else was going on between them.

Ron and Harry's arrival at the table, however, stopped her from thinking more about this. They were having an animated discussion about last night's Quidditch match between England and Australia. Something about the Ashes, Oaks, and Thorns finally all going England's way.

"Morning, Hermione," Harry said after they'd finished.

"Hello, Harry," she said pleasantly. "Be you got your spells memorized for taming dragons today?" It was an open secret that today's Triwizard challenge would involve dragons. Bill Weasley's presence gave that away.

"Sure," Harry replied with the tone of voice she knew meant he was trying to put one over on her and hope she wouldn't notice.

"Really? How do you stun them, then?"

"Stupefy right on the noggin."

Hermione sighed. "No. A Conjunctivitis Curse between the eyes, Harry. If you don't do well, you'll get hurt."

"It's okay, Hermione," Ron said, patting her on the head. "Harry has a plan, and it's a good one."

"I don't believe that for a minute," she said, tossing Ron's hand off her head. "If you didn't want my help, you should have said so at the beginning," she snapped, and stormed off.

She rounded the corner and started down the hallway toward the Quidditch field, which was the only place in the grounds with enough seating for all three schools to cheer their champion on. She needed to clear her head after that patronizing display from Ronald, who was probably even now wondering why she was so angry at him. If he would stop to think, for even a moment, before opening his mouth, she might find him more tolerable.

Her enraged state did mean she missed the fact that a wand was pointed at her until well after the spell that followed it fired off. At that point, it was far too late to think, much less act, protectively.

When Hermione awoke again, Neville hurried over to the side of her bed. She was in the infirmary.

"Neville?" she said, questioningly. "What are you--why don't I sound like myself?" She looked down, to see body of the other girl she'd met this morning. Luna.

"WHAT IS--" she began, but Neville clamped a hand over her mouth before she could attract too much attention.

"It's complicated, Hermione," he said, as if that explained everything. She glared at him. "I don't fully understand it, either," he said, shrugging. "Luna said you were the one who could understand the paradox best."

"Paradox." she said, muffled. Neville removed his hand apologetically.

"All Luna told me was that you're right - Harry's wasn't ready for tonight."

"And on the strength of this, she decided that she needed to _take my body_?"

"I thought it might help," Hermione's body said from the doorway. "Perhaps if I could get in, I could use that brilliant mind of yours to figure everything out in advance. It didn't work. I'm sorry for not asking, but I'm also trying not to create paradoxes every time I try again." Her body fingered the Time Turner. "You do have quite a bit more access to the Restricted Section, though, so this time, I think I might be able to make the magic work more effectively."

Hermione felt even more confused. And a little scared.

"What's going on?" she said.

Luna sighed, in her body, which made it sound very aggressive.

"Harry Potter is about to die at the hands of his nemesis. Who will then rule the Wizarding World soon after that and plunge us all into an era of darkness unmatched throughout history. If Harry lives, so do all the rest of us. I've been trying to find the timeline where this happens so I can collapse the waveform into that single event."

Her body spun the Time Turner.

\---

Hermione woke up in bed. It was the day of the Triwizard Tournament match, and her research and preparations weren't ready yet. She hadn't found the way Harry's name had gotten into the Goblet of Fire so that she could reverse the spell and get him away from the danger. Harry was, well, an average student, and the challenges of the Triwizard Tournament were going to be too much for him. He still couldn't pronounce his spells correctly half the time. He was going to get hurt, and with Death Eaters around, a hurt Harry could easily be a dead Harry.

Changing into something suitable for breakfast, she fed Crookshanks and thought to go to the Great Hall for breakfast, but something else tugged at her. She hadn't understood how magic could confound an artifact of that power, but a stray thought seemed to be sticking in her head - what if the paper that had Harry's name on it came from the future? If he had been seventeen when he wrote that name, someone could have stolen it and placed it in the Goblet, using a Time Turner, and the Age Line wouldn't have made a difference.

She'd never heard of someone using a Time Turner to go back that far before - the possibility of a paradox would be too great. Unless someone knew the exact day and time the Goblet could be sabotaged.

But how would the loop get started? Someone would have had to have already sabotaged the Goblet of Fire with Harry's name. Puzzling over the thought, she eventually turned into the Great Hall from habit, where Harry and Ron were having a conversation about the Quidditch match from last night. Apparently, England had beaten Australia and there was a lot of talking about how the Ashes, Oaks, and Thorns might all be back in England for a year.

"Hello, Hermione," Ron said, waving to her as she sat down next to them.

"Hello, Ron. Who was the other person with Neville this morning?"

"Said her name was Luna, I think. She's a Ravenclaw. They're classmates, I guess," Ron said, shrugging.

"Well," Harry said, "we are supposed to be getting along with other houses, so maybe Professor Sprout is trying to hurry things along."

"Are you ready for today, Harry? Have you been studying your spells?"

"Harry's got a plan," Ron said, beaming and proud. "And it's a good one."

A spark of anger flared in Hermione. Her preparations were being dismissed again for...something. She was getting tired of being ignored or only listened to for homework help. She thought to tell them off about it, but a second thought reminded her that Ron was still very highly ranked in the school's Wizard's Chess competitions. When he had the opportunity to slow down and think, he could strategize well. And a lot of chess was putting small pieces in strategic positions to defeat greater odds.

Hermione decided to let it go. Harry's safety was more important right now.

"What did you choose? A Conjunctivitis Curse for the eyes of the dragon?" she asked. It was an open secret the challenge for today would involve dragons. Charlie Weasley had been spotted on the grounds too often for anyone to believe otherwise.

"You'll see," Harry said. "Don't want to give any of the other schools an idea."

Hermione rolled he eyes at them both and went back to breakfast. When Harry was called to the competitor platform, she accompanied Ron to the stands to see the challenge. She was horrified to see that the competitors were going to steal eggs from dragons.

"That's inhumane," she said. "Those dragons don't deserve this."

"They're props, Hermione," Ron said, smiling. "Charlie would never let real eggs out for something like this. They're too precious and endangered. He's letting the dragons out for sport and exercise."

Hermione bit back a reply as she watched Cedric successfully distract the dragon guarding the egg and claim his prize. Ron seemed a little too interested in the Beauxbatons champion, as did several others of her classmates, when she took her turn at getting the egg.

"She makes it look elegant," Ron said, clapping.

"And I'm not?" Hermione said with some edge to her voice.

"It's not your fault," said the girl from this morning--Luna--smiling at her as she poked her head around Neville. "The Beauxbatons champions tend to have Veela in their heritage. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm from it. You can see that Neville's enchanted a bit by her as well."

Hermione looked at Neville, who blushed significantly and said nothing.

Viktor took his turn at the task, and to Hermione's delight, he seemed to have come up with the same plan that she had recommended for Harry. She was about to give Ron a little what-for about it when the dragon's tail lashed out and destroyed some of the egg props. Viktor's score plummeted, and Hermione folded her arms over her chest and huffed. Leave it to a dragon to ruin her plan so effectively.

Ron grinned as Harry stepped up to the task.

"I think he'll do swell," Ron said.

"Hungarian Horntails are very protective of their clutches," Hermione said. "Harry's not going to be able to move her far enough away to get the egg."

"ACCIO FIREBOLT!" Harry cried above the roar of the crowd. Hermione's eyes widened as she deduced what the plan actually was.

"The Hungarian Horntail," Ron said evenly as his smile broadened, "is a species notorious for its inability to effectively track small flying objects, even as it perceives them as irritants to get rid of."

Hermione stared at Ron.

"Ronald Weasley," she said, not bothering to conceal her surprise, "have you been _paying attention_?"

Ron shrugged.

"I'd say, combined with the fact that Harry's on one of the fastest brooms in the world, that Harry might have given himself a favorable draw, wouldn't you?" he said, his eyes locked on Harry's flying.

Hermione wasn't sure whether she wanted to shake Ron's hand for brilliance or punch him in the face for his earlier condescension. She settled for watching Harry fly, resigning herself to the understanding that there wouldn't be time to work on whatever came next until after all the parties and celebrations of how well Harry had done were over.

It was much later than she would have liked when all the partying finally stopped, but at least she had the walk home to talk to Harry about what he might need for the next round. She was in the middle of the possible opening charms for the egg when she saw what looked like three first-years sneaking away toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Harry, Ron, look," she said, pointing. "I don't think they should be out here this late."

"Ah, let 'em have some fun, Hermione," Ron said. "They're probably going to see Hagrid."

"Hagrid's over that way," Harry said, pointing in the opposite direction. "That way is the Forbidden Forest. Come on," he said, with some urgency, having noticed the house crests on their robes. "They're Slytherins, too. Bet they're up to no good."

Hermione sighed ever so slightly as she followed Harry and Ron, who had all the justification they needed to pursue the trio, now that Slytherin House could be implicated.

When they finally caught up, only one of the three was standing in the clearing before the wood.

"It's dangerous to be out at night, especially here," she called out. "You should go back to your common room."

The girl turned to face them

"Oh, this is a treat," she said, smiling and pointing a wand at Harry. "I didn't think I'd get this good of a chance."

"Put that down," Ron said, his own wand already out.

"No," she replied. "I'm going to fulfill my destiny, and no blood traitor is going to stop me. A destiny you stole from me, Harry Potter."

"What did I do to you?" Harry asked. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"You killed my father, Harry Potter," she said, keeping her wand trained on him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said.

"Who is your father? Who are you?" Hermione asked.

"I don't answer Mudbloods," she snapped.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"I'm the Augurey. When I come to find you, it means your death. And you're up, Harry Potter. I'll kill you here and then I'll go back and finish the job so you never get to be the Boy-Who-Lived."

Hermione's brain raced. Going back meant...

"A Time Turner!" Ron said, as a glint of metal reflected in the moonlight.

Time seemed to slow for Hermione, as wands were raised in anticipation of spells. Before she could react to it herself, she felt another presence push her aside for control of her own body.

"Expecto Patronum Temporis!" her body said, wand out. Hermione _felt_ the surge of power run through her body. She hadn't cast a spell that powerful in her life!

Dropping to her knees to try and regain her balance, she watched to see what happened.

As her sight and hearing cleared, she heard the other girl screaming.

"You! I am the proud scion of Lord Voldemort! How dare you interfere!"

Her screaming would have been more dignified if she wasn't frantically trying to drag herself away from the vortex of white that had no intention of letting her go anywhere. Hermione felt very cold toward her, despite having only met her a little while ago.

And whomever was in control of her body still had enough for one last spell.

"Stupefy," she said, without a trace of mercy.

With a howl that sent shivers down everyone's spine, the girl was violently thrown backward into the vortex from the force of Hermione's magic. Satisfied that it had what it came for, the vortex dissipated with a thunderclap.

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in shock.

"I didn't know you had it in you," Ron said, a trace of fright creeping into his voice. Harry was staring at a ball of light that was close by to her, wand ready in case it, too, became a threat.

Hermione understood what Ron meant, but didn't dare say anything until she was sure whatever had just been in her body had fully left.

"Oh, she's always had it," said a familiar voice as the ball of light resolved itself into a similarly vaguely familiar ghostly form. "Most of the time, she just finds some other focus for her anger."

"Who are you?" Harry said.

"Oh, that's right. I'm Luna. Well, _a_ Luna anyway. It's hard to keep track of which timelines you've met someone in when they're fracturing all over the place. It looks like they're resolving, though, so that's good. Soon we'll have just one continuity, and that will make everyone happier."

"And the girl?" Ron prompted.

"Oh, Delphi. She's the reason for all this timeline trouble - going back and trying to change the past to get back to her own timeline. Sorry about taking over your body, Hermione," Luna said. "Every previous time we got this far, you figured it out, but you were a little slow to do what was needed. So I did it for you."

Hermione frowned.

"Well, don't do it again." she said, mostly because she felt it deserved some sort of admonition. "What happens now?"

"I'm not entirely sure," the ghost-Luna said. "Most likely, as each of our timelines get pruned away, we'll start collapsing down into the single, stable one, and if everything goes well, we won't even realize that things have gone astray. That would be nice. I'd hate to have you remember all the times that I did things to you while trying to fix it all."

"My head hurts," Ron said. "Is there any way of explaining this that will make sense?"

"Not really, no," Luna said brightly.

Hermione woke up in her bed. It was the first day of the Triwizard Tournament, and her preparations still weren't complete.

Hermione felt a passing twinge of familiarly at her surroundings, as if she had done this before. She didn't give it another thought, because Crookshanks jumped up on her and began to aggressively demand to be fed.


End file.
